City home builders want more streamlined process with city
Written by editor
Monday, 06 October 2008
Local home builders are calling for more collaboration with city hall to help reduce red tape which they say has been increasingly slowing down construction of new homes. Building permit applications often take up to six weeks to process and a further four to six weeks of every house-building period is spent waiting for city inspections or re-inspections, representatives of the Lethbridge chapter of the Canadian Home Builders Association told city council when it met Monday as community issues committee. “There’s certainly no reason why we can’t speed that up,” association President Bruce Galts said afterward. “It has certainly increased, the length of the time we’ve had to wait for a permit in the last several years.” The association cited an erosion of collaboration between city administration and the home building industry and suggested establishing an industry-led steering committee to foster better relations. “What we’re looking for is a mechanism for us to be able to bring issues forward” and for the city to do the same, he said. Meetings of the community issues committee serve as a forum for dialogue between council and various stakeholders in the city. The committee makes no decisions or resolutions. Another concern for the association is the regulation of signage in the city, which it argues is too restrictive and makes it harder for builders to market show homes. “We find it’s very difficult for people to find our show homes. Right now, the regulations don’t allow us to put up signs very effectively. We just need to change that a little bit so we can get people to the right spot so they can take a look at what we have to offer,” Galts said. The association also wants the city to consider rebating off-site levies for first-time home buyers. The levies are charged to builders for infrastructure costs in new subdivisions and are typically passed on to buyers.
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